thereen

[thereen]

Dream Journal: The Old House and the Would-Be Murderer

I walked through the meandering halls of a dark house. At times, my fear of the dark got the best of me and the urge to run out into the night was overwhelming, but alas, a door was nowhere in sight, and neither was a window big enough to fit an adult. The floors creaked, cool gusts would blow by me. A ghost? Perhaps. An open window? Probably more of a possibility, but I, being the kind of person who believes in things unseen, decided on the ghost option, giving myself the fright that I wanted so hardly to shake. 

Suddenly, a red flashing light shone in the distance. “Curiosity killed the cat,” I thought to myself, but nevertheless, I was drawn to it. I could feel my heart pounding, the lump in my throat building. A web waved like a flag every time that ghost flew by, and each time, it seemed to have more flies caught in it. I tried hard to avoid it touching me. It was right in the way of the light, but it would not stop me; I would see what this crimson signal was all about. I ducked under the web and crawled past it. I got closer and closer to the light. I felt as if it were calling to me. “Come closer,” it would say. “I am your friend.” Strangely, it brought me comfort.

I finally reached the room the light was coming from. The walls were illuminated red each time it would flash, its light piercing through the webs that tried to hinder it. “No more of this. I’ll free you,” I said to it. I looked around for something to grab the infested webs with. There was no way I was touching this grossness. I found a pointing stick, one that had a cartoonish gloved hand pointing its finger at the end of it. I grabbed it and quickly proceeded to clear the thick, massive webs. And suddenly...a sound.

“Blip, blop, bleep, woooo,” I heard coming from it. Could it be...? “Oh. My. God,” I said out loud with a very wide smile on my face. “R2???” Out came R2-D2 (yes, the droid from Star Wars) from his blanket of webs. Overjoyed surely I think because he no longer had that mess all around him. Sadly, I don’t understand Droid, but I knew he was being friendly. Now that I had him by my side, I was no longer afraid of the gusts of wind blowing by me. I had a loyal friend. He led me through the meandering halls and out the front door that had been so hard to find.

This dream then shifted to a completely different setting. R2 was off in his world, and I was back in mine. I walked through the streets of Laredo, my hometown, but something was very wrong. Fires burned on every block. Crime was rampant. I could hear screams in the distance, along with gunshots and police sirens. I heard the laughter of a few drunk men, one of which was being very violent towards a woman while his friends seemed to be entertained by it all. Anger overwhelmed me, as did fear. The fear was mainly because I knew that I was not going to let them continue doing this. I would be the one to put a stop to it. I brazenly walked up to the group of men and told them to leave her alone. They stopped and stared at me, the group looking at the abusive man waiting for his next move. He got closer to me and asked, “Oh, do you want to be the bitch that takes her place?” I got more nervous at this point while the woman sat crying on the ground, her tears glistening by the light of the nearby fire. “You leave her alone. She’s coming with me,” I said. “Take her,” the man laughed. I admit, I was surprised that that was all it took, that I wasn’t at the end of about a dozen fists. I helped the woman up and she held on to my arm, burying her face in the fabric of my shirt and crying as we walked away. We suddenly reached my grandparents’ home in Laredo, my hometown, but it was as it was when they were still living. This didn’t phase me in the dream. It was as if this was real life. I told her that she could stay in the smaller house that my Grandpa had built for my great-grandmother, my Grandma’s mother, who had passed years before I was born. The woman thanked me as I opened the door for her. I went into the main house to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa. “Hey Reenie boy,” said my Grandpa as I went up to him and hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I could smell his cologne so vividly, feel the softness of his “guayabera” shirt, and hear his footsteps, the ones that seemed louder depending on the kind of boots he wore, on the wooden floor of the kitchen as he walked towards me. “Hi, Grandpa! Hi, Grammita,” I said as I walked towards my Grandma who was sitting at the kitchen table working on the books for my mom’s beauty shop, which was right next door. “Hi, hijito (ee-hee-toh, Spanish for little son),” she said as I gave her about 6 quick kisses in succession on the cheek, an imitation of the way she would kiss all of us grandchildren. The doorbell rang and my grandparents looked towards the door. “Quien sera,” asked Grandpa.  “I’ll check,” I said. “There are a lot of shady people out there and I think we should maybe turn the lights off so they think we aren’t here,” I said as the door slowly opened. A very tall and muscular man came through the door. He wore a trucker-style hat over his straight shoulder-length blonde hair. Tattoos covered his entire body, starting from under his nose. HIs skin was very heavily scarred. His eyes, empty. His mouth...missing. Tattooed scarred flesh took the place of what may or may not have once been is mouth. He had no shirt on, and there was no specific design to his tattoos, just shapes, almost paisley-like at some points. In his right hand...a small revolver. I became terrified. “This is it,” I thought to myself. “This is how I go. Will it hurt? I need to protect Grandma and Grandpa first and make sure he doesn’t hurt them.” I looked at the large century-old portrait of Jesus that hung in the living room, illuminated by a neon-lite that was added in the 60′s by my grandfather, one that would only be switched off by him. “Help us, Jesus,” I prayed. “Please. I don’t want to die and I don’t want him to hurt my grandparents.” “Grandma, Grandpa, go out the back door,” I said in Spanish, hoping and praying that the man would not understand me. Grandpa had his arm around Grandma, who held onto him terrified. “Salte, Caro (Leave, Caro),” Grandpa said to her, but she would not leave his side as he stood his ground. He then got in front of her, blocking her from any harm that may come. He stood right next to me as the man pointed his gun at my chest. Not able to speak, the man reached for his wallet and signaled to us to give him what he wanted. I looked at Grandpa who was staring the man down. Grandpa had been a police officer for over 30 years and was now retired. He didn’t fear too many men, and if he did, he hid it well. I reached for my wallet slowly and inched towards the man. I could see sweat running down his face, the hair that peeked from under his hat and around his ears soaked in it. He was nervous, and I had to take advantage of that. “Quedate conmigo, (Stay with me),” said Grandpa, but I knew I had to make a move. He still had his gun pointed at me. I reached out with my right hand to give him my wallet and as he reached his left hand to get it, I grabbed the gun from his right, surprising myself. I didn’t hesitate and shot three times. The man groaned loudly as he fell back onto the floor. My Grandma screamed as Grandpa held her. I walked backwards towards them, still aiming at the man who was now bleeding out on the green carpet. He looked at me angrily as he lay there, a look that said “I should have killed you when I had the chance.” I looked at the portrait of Jesus and said, “I’m sorry I hurt someone, but he was going to hurt us and I couldn’t let that happen.” I broke down and started crying. Grandpa put his hand on my shoulder. “Ya mi’jito. Ya.”

I added a sketch of the intruder. I promise he looked a lot scarier in person.

[thereen]

The guys and I will be at Swan Dive TONIGHT! 9:30PM! $5 cover, 21+! #GetReend #friday #musicians #austintx #live (at Swan Dive) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzimlw9FvWO/?igshid=1i1ywx3yyq47x

[thereen]

Dream Journal: The Invisible Train, Ru Paul, and the Dream Girl

I've decided this is a thing I'm gonna do now. I love telling stories, and my dreams are so random. Forgive me if things are fuzzy.

It was a cold and snowy winter. The hills were curved and pure white, as if seeking warmth under their blankets of snow. I don't know how I was so warm in my burgundy shorts and this really cool (literally) shirt that my dear friend Jessica, a very talented artist I must say, made me: a sleeveless bordering on sheer t-shirt dyed midnight blue with a burgundy-dyed patch in the middle inscribed with the word "do." When she was making these shirts, Jessica asked me to pick a two letter word to put on it. I chose "do" because I wanted it to be a reminder to not give up on dreams, but also to put them into action; to DO everything I dream of doing.

For those of you who do not know me well, and for those of you who do, too, I grew up surrounded by women: my mother of course, Grandma, who was like a second mother to us while Mom went to college and worked styling hair, our two caretakers who were two sisters from Mexico that had been working with my grandparents since before we were even born, my aunts and their friends, who were always at my grandparents' or babysat us, and my five beautiful sisters. One, my sister from my father's first marriage, moved away when I was very little, which made me so sad, but I still have very vivid memories of her with me during my early childhood. We reconnected again when I was 18 and I met my first brother-in-law and my first nephew and nieces. I digress, though.

The reason for that whole spiel was to explain an aspect of this dreamy winter outing: I was the only male in a huge group of women. I didn't think anything of it though, because of my upbringing I'm actually more comfortable around women than men. There was a lodge, but no skiers, a pond, but it had not quite frozen over, and a railroad that hugged each hill. Have I ever mentioned I love hugs? Anyway.

A domineering yet kind woman was our guide, much like a camp counselor. She would lead us everywhere we needed to be and was not pleased if anyone didn't listen to her or strayed from the group. I, ever the daydreamer, would often admire the setting, gazing at the ground completely covered by snow, something I'm still not very used to, and watching the sun peeking through the thick clouds. The birds in the sky sang a beautiful song and soared through the air as I wondered how they were so comfortable with cold air rushing all around them, but then when I thought about it, I remembered I was wearing summer clothing and felt no coldness. The wind would blew, and I felt like a bird, one still learning to fly.

Our guide yelled at me and told me to join the group, and I did as the girls laughed, not in a mean way, but more like they thought it was funny that my daydreaming was interrupted and I was quite startled. We were told to stand on the railroad so we could get to our next destination. "Take a seat and buckle in," said our guide. We were very confused, but she insisted. Everyone looked at one another, wondering if this was some kind of joke or if we were missing something. I decided to pretend to sit, just to appease the guide, thinking this was going to be really tough on my glutes. Just as I thought that, I settled into a very comfortable seat. I was stunned by what was happening as was everyone around me. Everyone buckled in and the walls appeared, followed by the floor, then the ceiling. My smile was so wide, I could feel it. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought to myself, "Magic. It's real."

Off we went, over, around, and even through the hills. The ride seemed to take forever, but I didn't mind it one bit. Not only was the scenery of this winter wonderland beautiful, but I was sitting in a train that appeared out of thin air. When does this ever happen? I needed to soak it in as much as possible.

We arrived at the lodge, which was packed with families. Children were playing in the snow while adults conversed and sipped on coffee. Maybe it was hot chocolate though. That's what I drink most of the time so I can look trendy and cool at a coffee shop, having never really been a coffee drinker unless I really need to wake up, in which case I'll have a white chocolate mocha since it reminds me of hot chocolate.

We all joined the line of people trying to get into the lodge. Through the windows I could see a bakery. Bakers worked diligently getting those pies out and setting them on tables. Apparently, dessert was on the house. Dessert was also the only thing on the menu. I could see creme brulee topped with fresh berries, strawberry shortcake, lemon meringue pie, strawberry cheesecake, tiramisu, an assortment of cakes with LOTS of frosting, donuts, cookies...I could go on and on. When we got inside there was no room to sit, so we sat on the floor. I suddenly began to feel very shy. My introverted self started showing his face and I suddenly had a hard time looking people in the eye. I looked around instead, admiring the very detailed wooden architecture of the inside of the lodge. Suddenly I heard a huge commotion and people were smiling and excited about something. A rather large group of people walked into the room where we sat, surrounding one person. Phones came out, Snapchat and Instagram were on everyone's screens. Emerging from the center of this group came Ru Paul. I smiled as well thinking, "wow, I just saw a post by Butch Walker with Ru Paul!" Ru was not in drag, but was wearing a really nice suit and his head glistened, reflecting the lights suspended from the high ceilings of the lodge. He was looking around, walking up to people and speaking to them. I noticed that whoever he spoke to got very excited and was directed to get into a line outside. Then Ru came up to me. "Hi! What's your name," he asked as he extended his hand to shake mine. "Rene," I said. "Beautiful name! Very French! Are you French," he asked. I replied, "About nineteen percent according to my Ancestry DNA test." Ru laughed and asked about my other percentages and we talked about it for a bit. I thought it was very nice of him to take interest. Then he said, "You have very expressive eyes. Do you mind if we glam them up and put makeup on your face? We want to take pictures." I didn't even hesitate. "Sure," I said with a smile, hiding how nervous I was, but also how excited I was. Ru directed me to the line the people selected were going to, and I joined it. I was the only guy once again. Then a really pretty girl complimented my shirt. I went into a daze looking at her. You would almost expect "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright to start playing like it did for Wayne when he saw Cassandra in "Wayne's World." I came to, blushed, and thanked her. She asked where I got the shirt and I told her the story of how it came to be, nervous as I am around any girl I find attractive. "You're shaking," she said with a giggle. "Are you ok?" I blushed again and said "Yes. It's just cold and I'm wearing summer clothes." She laughed again and said, "Yeah I had been watching you for a while and was wondering if you were cold." As you may recall, I was feeling no cold at all, but I wasn't going to be an idiot and admit she was making me sh-sh-shake. But also, this girl had been looking at... me?? "Calm down and be cool, Reen," I thought to myself. I extended my hand. "I'm Rene, my friends call me Reenie. Reen for short." She extended her hand, "I'm..."

I woke up. 😣

I hope you enjoyed my first Dream Journal entry. Have a great Fourth of July!

[thereen]

The guys and I will be at Love Goat on Thursday night along with Springful, David Diers, and Kazki and the Diamonds! Come live up Friday, Jr with us! Show starts at 9! #GetReend #livemusic #austin (at Love Goat) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwpfFffnMnt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1u42p8z40scx8

[thereen]

This is a video of my friend Daniel Ecord and I singing one of our favorite songs, Superman's Song, by Crash Test Dummies. He could hit those low notes much better than I could. I sang it at his memorial last week. In case you missed my post, Danny was killed in a devastating house fire on the morning of March 31, 2019. No one else was in the home, and we believe that Danny was trapped as he was making sure that his family was safe. That's just the kind of guy he was. Not only did his family, his wife, Angela, daughters, Felicity, Kayla, and Nadia, son, Chris, and grandkids, Lyndon and Journie, lose this wonderful soul, they also lost their home and everything in it. I humbly ask you to please donate to the GoFundMe page (http://tinyurl.com/y36mzbwl) that was set up for them. This will help alleviate the costs of the funeral, as well as help Danny's family find a new home and buy basic necessities, such as clothing and food. Thank you so much. ❤️

Shine on, Danny. Rest in God's love. We will miss you.

[thereen]

Hello everyone, our friend Danny was tragically killed in a house fire a few days ago. He was a great friend, a kind man, loving father, grandfather, step father, and husband. Thankfully no one else was hurt, but his family lost everything. Please donate to help them with not only clothes, food, and other necessities, but also to help with funeral expenses. Thank you ❤️

[thereen]

Happy Birthday, Elvis! #Elvis https://www.instagram.com/p/BsYOexOHEr0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=a5j7aczs5gpb

[thereen]

Hey everyone! I'd like to ask your help for a friend of mine who has been going through a really tough 10 months. Elizabeth met the man of her dreams, they got married, and went on their honeymoon. It was there that her new husband contracted a rare bacterial infection, became seriously ill, and passed away a month later. As medical bills have mounted, Elizabeth and her children have lost their pets, vehicle, and home.

A benefit will be held at Gruene Harley-Davidson on November 3, 2018 from 9am to 5pm. I'll be performing there at 11am, and a 2017 Harley will be raffled off.

The event is in 2 weeks and 190 tickets still need to be sold in order to be able to give the bike away and be able to provide some financial relief to Elizabeth and her family.

Tickets can be bought online. Email shoutaboutitinc@gmail.com for more info.

Thanks for your help!

[thereen]

Hey you guys! I'm really excited about an upcoming show I have. That's right, show, not a gig (as some of you know, I differentiate). This will be my first full band all original show in a good long while, and I'm ready to get back on stage and start doing what I set out to do in the first place, which is share my music, the stuff that comes from my own mind, heart, and soul, with all of you. I'll be debuting some new songs too, but then again, to some of you who have never heard me before, the songs are all new, so cheers to that!

But this event is very special and it hits home. It's an offshoot of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event called Relay Live. Like Relay for Life, this event will be a relay that will raise money for cancer research, but this event will be more of an actual music series and feature several great local bands, will have survivor and caregiver stories, food, games - a huge event for the whole family to enjoy.

Cancer needs to be eradicated from our world. It's caused so much suffering, not only to those who endure this terrible ailment, but also those of us who can only watch as those we love who are afflicted wither away, those who lose the ones they love.

I have lost family members and friends, including my best friend, to this disease. My father was also diagnosed with prostate cancer a while back, but thanks to God, faith, and the doctors who cared for him, he beat it and survived. He is now a national spokesperson for ACS and he travels to share his story and advise others on what they can do to save themselves and/or the men in their lives from prostate cancer. He also lobbies at both the state and US Capitals to fund cancer research. I'm so proud of him and grateful that he is such a fighter and survivor.

Please join us on Saturday, November 10, 2018 at the Seaholm Power Lawn in Austin, TX. Bring your whole family, listen to some amazing music, just have a blast. Let's do our part in beating this terrible disease. Here's a schedule of the day's events:

Opening Ceremony | 4:00 PM

Survivor/Caregiver Celebration | 4:15 PM

Automatic Weekend (performance) | 5:00 PM

Flechaus (performance) | 6:00 PM

The Reen (performance) | 7:00 PM

Sharks In The Deep End (performance) | 8:00 PM

Luminaria Ceremony | 9:00 PM

Closing Ceremony | 10:00 PM

[thereen]

You never know who needs a smile. 🙂

[thereen]

I had fun yesterday. ❤️ 📷: @embers_edge_photography (at Pearl Farmers Market - San Antonio, TX)

[thereen]

One more because she was so happy 😄 I'm so grateful to be able to share my gift.

[thereen]

Happy Birthday to this sweet girl ❤️

[thereen]

Saturday night, Live! 😄

[thereen]

Happy Birthday. Shine on. ❤️

[thereen]

Is that you Mark Wahlberg? (at Luby's)

[thereen]